Linn Energy (LINE) -5.1% premarket after a weekend Barron's article warns of a sharp drop if the dividend gets cut. LINE's 7.5% dividend yield has supported the company's high unit price even as its fundamentals have faded; in Q1, LINE failed to produce enough cash to cover its distribution, even by its generous measure of distributable cash flow. LNCO-6.8% premarket. [View news story]

Ditto on buying more in the pre-market. I was just surprised that enough people still read Barron's to drive the price down that much.

Do you know what's in your preferred stock ETF? The PowerShares Financial Preferred Portfolio (PGF) has nearly all holdings in perpetual preferreds - fixed yields with no maturity dates, thus particularly vulnerable to rising rates. The iShares Preferred Stock ETF (PFF) has just 45%. Mutual preferred funds, though more expensive, might offer even better protection against higher rates - they're able to participate in the OTC market where much of the action in floating-rate preferreds takes place. [View news story]

Or just do some research on your own and buy your own basket of preferred stocks from what you think are solid companies. Your only expense will be your time spent on it.

JPMorgan (JPM) has "transitioned from model citizen to problem child" in the eyes of Washington, the NY Times says. The latest evidence of the shift is a government document (reviewed by the Times) which reportedly says the firm dreamed up "manipulative schemes" in order to wring profits from "money-losing power plants." The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission also says Blythe Masters (mother of the synthetic CDO) "falsely denied under oath her awareness of" certain activities allegedly undertaken by a group of Houston energy traders. It isn't clear whether actions will be taken against JPM, which will have a chance to respond to the allegations. [View news story]

Since Dimon did his level best to help put the current regime in power in 2008, I wonder how he feels about having himself and JPM treated as enemies of the state these days? Although I'm sure the right amount of campaign contributions and the proper sort of boot licking will get he and his company back in good graces again. A slap on the wrist will be the most they end up getting. We don't do free markets here anymore; we have crony capitalist statism (from both parties) that would make Mussolini proud.

Intel (INTC) names COO Brian Krzanich its next CEO; he'll take over from Paul Otellini following Intel's May 16 shareholder meeting. Krzanich, who first joined Intel in 1982, was named COO early last year after having overseen Intel's manufacturing ops, and (along with CFO Stacy Smith) became an executive VP at the time Otellini announced his retirement plans. The Street isn't crazy about the move, INTC-1% premarket. (PR) [View news story]

>>Certainly the trust has some risks, but is it twice as risky as the trusts and partnerships paying 5-6%? And if not, why is the yield so high? Of course no one can say for sure, but one reason for the trust's high yield might be that investors are simply overlooking MSB right now.<<

I hope you realize that MSB and other trustsof this nature have a limited duration and not only won't keep paying those distributions forever; at some point, in the not too distant future, they will cease to exist. One needs to be very careful buying into something that may poof out of existence before you can regain the purchase price of the trust shares thru collecting distributions, much less turn a profit on them.

Congressman Mel Watt of North Carolina looks to be the President's choice to replace Ed DeMarco as head of the FHFA. Getting rid of DeMarco has been a popular idea among many in the Administration as he has consistently blocked plans to implement some sort of principal forgiveness program for underwater homeowners. [View news story]

I've been smiling as I've watched it go down pre-market since unloading mine. Was lucky enough to have found someone who put in a buy order at $15.60 apparently before checking his news feed. That's the opposite of how those sorts of things usually go for me. :-)

It may never reach $12.50, but that'll be okay, too. It's not something I have to worry about until (if) it does.